Mouthgaurds and Pointe Shoes
by lookatmelose
Summary: Being the only girl on the football team, Annabeth learned how to be strong and to not give a damn about what others say. Being the only boy in his ballet class, Percy learned how to have grace and not underestimate the difficulty of beauty. When a turn of events causes their lives to cross, will they be able to appreciate their differences, or will past prejudices keep them apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: I Lost my (Foot)balls**

"And that's the first half, ladies and gents. The Wolverines lead with 29 points and the Hounds are trailing with 18."

Annabeth sits on the bench lost in thought, calculating the results of potential plays and scrutinizing her opponent's weaknesses. She doesn't notice Coach Hedge getting up and leading the team to the locker room until Jason comes up to her.

"C'mon, Coach won't be too happy if we're late," Jason says, startling Annabeth. She nods and follows after him.

They walk in as Hedge slams his clipboard onto the bench closest to him.

"What the HELL WAS THAT? They got 14 points in the first six minutes. It's like you just sat on your asses and said 'here, go right ahead, we don't mind.' WELL THIS ISN'T A FUCKING TEA PARTY! IF YOU WANT TO BE A GENTLEMAN GO JOIN THE GOLF TEAM. For everyone else, GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, unless you want to lose to a team like Northwood, who is fucking awful. If any of you ever want to make it anywhere, you have to GET IT TOGETHER. WE CAN'T WIN ANY GAME IF WE KEEP PLAYING LIKE THIS." Hedge finishes his rant with a huff, picks up his clipboard, and storms out of the locker room, leaving the boys and Annabeth alone.

Jason stands up and turns to his teammates. "You heard what Coach said, we've got to get it together. We can't let a team like Northwood push us around on our first game, in our house. We've got the skill, we just need to put it into play." Jason nods to Annabeth and she rises from her spot next to him.

"I remember when I first joined the football team, and so many people said that I would be useless because I'm a girl, and girls are weaker than boys, and that I could never really be part of the team. But I came here and I proved them wrong, with your guys' help and support. And that's exactly what we need to do now; go out there together and show all those people who want us to lose that we're not giving up, and that we're stronger than they think." Annabeth finishes with a steady tone to her voice and Beckendorf begins to speak.

"We need to play our game" Beckendorf says, and Frank gives a firm nod in response.

"Let's go out there and finish what we started!" Jason says, putting his hand out. Everyone else puts their fist on top of his hand.

"HELL HOUNDS ON THREE! ONE, TWO, THREE!"

"HELL HOUNDS!" The team roars, bringing their fists up simultaneously. Annabeth leads the team back out onto the field.

"I've never seen Coach look so angry before," whispers Leo loudly, receiving a death stare from Annabeth.

"You weren't there when we stole the state championship trophy last year," says Travis.

"You mean misplaced the trophy," replies Connor. "Coach wouldn't speak to us for weeks."

"Which we actually didn't mind," ends Travis with a grin which turns into a grimace after Beckendorf slaps him on the back of the head.

The team jogs over to where Coach Hedge is waiting by the bench. Loud booing from the opposing bleachers blocks out the half-hearted cheers from the Hounds. After Hedge calls some plays, Annabeth, Jason, Frank, and the rest of the starters assemble on the field, illuminated by the harsh fluorescent lights. As the ball leaves the center's hands, every player starts moving and the second half begins.

Within the first half of the quarter, Annabeth scores a touchdown and the kicker makes the extra point, hyping up the crowd in the process. Combining the locker room pep talk with the crowd's rising energy, the team finishes the quarter strong with another touchdown and extra point, and stops the other team from scoring. Yet, something is off with the team, and as soon as Annabeth sits on the bench at the start of the fourth quarter, she could see it. Jason, who is in the best shape out of the team, looks tired; Frank, who can tackle a full grown elephant, can't stop someone the size of Leo. Overall there are a lot of fumbles and bad passes and after a couple more grueling minutes of this, the game is over.

"And with that, ladies and gents, the game has come to an end! The Wolverines won, 34-43! Please be sure to-"

The team grabs all their gear, Leo grabs the water, and they head into the locker room, heads hung low. Everyone takes a seat in silence, not even Leo has anything to say. Hedge walks in after everyone settles down.

"I don't think I need to say anything. Grab your stuff and get out, practice starts at 7 tomorrow." Hedge leaves without another word. Jason turns to Annabeth, who shakes her head and gets up to leave. Disheartened, the team trails out of the locker room after her.

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Annabeth begrudgingly opens her eyes to the sound of her alarm after a long night of tossing and turning. She had gone over every detail of last night's game, analyzing every mistake, barely able to sleep. Getting up, she french braids her hair, gets dressed, grabs a quick breakfast, and heads to practice.

As she steps into the field, Annabeth can tell that yesterday's performance still weighs on everyone's shoulders. Jason and Annabeth talk to the team before practice, pointing out what could have been done to make yesterday's game better and what needs to be done from here on out to make sure it doesn't repeat itself further in the season, yet still encouraging everyone so that they have the motivation needed to have a good practice. After warming up, Hedge sends everyone to do more individual drills, bringing everyone together to run every once in a while. By the end of the first hour, everyone is sweating buckets and Leo has to run to the school to get more water.

At the end of practice, Hedge calls the team together on the sideline.

"As you guys know, you played like crap last night. And after some thinking, and rewatching the film, I have decided that you guys need to work on your technique. You will be getting some special help. From here on out, for the second half of every Wednesday practice you will be heading to Strathmore Center for ballet lessons."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Please Pointe Me the Right Way**

*RING BLING RING RING*

Precy slowly blinks open his eyes, hardly able to believe that the weekend had gone by so quickly. What with swim practice and ballet and homework, he barely had any time to take a breath. It's shocking that he's even made it this far without passing out in the middle of class.

"Percy, sweetie, breakfast is ready!" Percy's mom shouts from the kitchen, shaking Percy from his thoughts and causing him to jump out of bed.

"Coming!" Percy yells back and quickly changes into some black jeans and a plain grey T-shirt as the smell of waffles and bacon wafts into his room. A few seconds later Percy slides into the kitchen where he can see his mom and step-dad, Paul, already digging into their plates while Percy's sits waiting for him. It didn't take long before all three of the plates were empty and Percy and Paul were getting up to head to Goode High School.

"Bye Mom, love you," Percy says and he shuts the apartment door behind him.

Percy and Paul head to Paul's car, and after a few minutes into the car ride, Paul starts talking. "Look, Perce, your mom doesn't want to bring this up because she knows you have so much on your plate right now, but it's only a few weeks into the year and your grades are not looking too good. It's your senior year and you've worked so hard and it'll be such a shame if these last few grades mess up all the hard work. You should start working to bring them up now so you won't be rushing to bring up a D to a B in two weeks. If you want I can talk to some of your teachers and see if they can get you any tutors to help you out."

Percy sighs and looks down at his feet. He knew this conversation would be brought up, but just didn't want it to be so soon. "Yeah, I know they aren't good, but I'm finally getting in the flow of things so I'm doing a bit better. Can I wait a few more weeks to see if I can bring up some of my grades myself before I get a tutor? I just don't want to add anything else to my schedule just yet."

"It's up to you, I was just offering. Just remember, it's too early in the year for you to get senioritis," Paul finishes with a chuckle. Percy and Paul are silent for the rest of the car ride, with only the hum of the radio show host's voice filling the silence.

Since Paul is a teacher, the two get to school thirty minutes before the first bell rings, giving Percy enough time to put his ballet bag in his locker and go to his world history teacher to talk about his last test. By the time he finishes that, there are still 15 minutes left before the bell rings, so Percy goes to the library where he finds Grover hunched over a table, frantically scribbling the answers to the math homework that's due during first period.

"Hey G-Man, what's up?" Percy asks as he drops his stuff onto the floor and sits across from Grover.

"Hey… I'm… just… trying to… finish the math homework… Dodds really gave us too much… and… done!" Grover exclaims, putting his homework away.

"How was the fundraiser?" Percy says as he leans back in his chair, remembering how excited his friend was to clean up a small section of the Hudson last Friday.

"Oh! It went soo well. We raised a few hundred and got a lot of volunteers. We even cleaned up almost 100 pounds of trash!" Grover says, pulling out his phone to show Percy some pictures of the trash cleaned up.

"That's great! Sorry I couldn't be there, I really wanted to but…"

"It's okay, Perce, I get it. What with swimming and ballet and school being a bitch I know you barely have any time for anything else. Just remember, when you become famous don't forget about me," Grover says, finishing his sentence off with a laugh.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll make sure to mention you in all of my interviews," Percy says, joining in on the joke and laughing with Grover. They continue catching each other up on what happened over the weekend, and when the bell rings, the two stand up, both heading to precalculus with Mrs. Dodds.

"Have you decided yet?" Grover asks as they take their seats in the classroom. "We all know I'm going into environmental science, but what about you? Like you have that one company that's interested, but you're also doing so well in swimming."

"I'm not sure yet. I think I'm just gonna try to keep my options open until I absolutely have to decide so I can see where this year takes me." The bell rings just as Percy finishes, with the final students rushing in to try to make it before Mrs. Dodds marks them tardy.

"Alright class, settle down. Everyone pass up your homework and clear your desk, we have a warm-up quiz to begin class…"

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The day went by extremely slow for Percy, each minute feeling like ten, before the final bell rang. Percy rushes to his locker to pick up his ballet bag, then heads outside to find his mom's car waiting to pick him up.

"Hi sweetie, how was your day?" Percy's mom asks as he gets into the car.

"It was good. I actually feel pretty good about my Psych test, so hopefully I did okay on that. Oh, and Coach already started talking about swim tryouts, which is kinda weird since they're still, like, two months away," Percy says, grabbing a pen from the cup holder to spin around his fingers.

"Oh, that's great Perce. I know you studied a lot for that test," Sally responds with a smile. "And you know how your coach is, he just loves to get ahead with swimming."

"Yeah, you're right. How was your day, Mom? How's the book going?" Percy asks, turning to face his mom.

The smile on Sally's face grows as she says, "It's fantastic. I got two more chapters done and I'm hoping Paul can read them once he gets home. I also got contacted back from an editor! They love the plot line and are waiting for me to finish so they can take a look!"  
"Mom, that's great! I'm so happy for you." A smile spreads onto Percy's face to match that of his mom.  
"Aw, thanks sweetie. I couldn't have done it without you. Oh, I wanted to ask you. What days will you be teaching the younger class again?"  
"Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00. So I'll have enough time to get some homework done before it and practice later."

"Okay, sounds great," Percy's mom says as she pulls into the parking lot of the Strathmore Center Percy goes to for ballet. "I'll see you later sweetie, have fun at rehearsal, love you!"

"Bye Mom, love you too," Percy responds as he gets out of the car. As Percy heads toward the door, he sees a familiar head of curly red hair getting out of a car in the parking lot, so he stops outside to wait.

"Hey Rachel," Percy says as the girl gets closer.

"Hey idiot," Rachel responds and together they walk into the center and head to the bathrooms to change into their leotards. Percy finishes before Rachel does, so he heads to the studio where their class is to get his shoes on and start stretching. Hazel and Juniper are already in the studio stretching when Percy sits to join them, and by the time Percy gets his shoes on, Rachel and Silena join the group.

"Juniper, how's it going with you and-"

"SHHhhh," Juniper cuts off Hazel and looks around sheepishly. "Could you not say his name, at least not so loud?"

"Ooo, Juniper what are you hiding from us?" Silena asks, joining into the conversation. By this point, Rachel and Percy have also started listening.

"Oh, sorry Juniper, I didn't know you were-"  
"It's okay Hazel. It's just some guy I like, it's nothing too special, just like my love life," Juniper responds to Silena with a sign.

"Aw, it's okay Juniper. I'm sure you'll find someone soon," Silena says.

"Speaking of which, Perce, what's with you and Calypso?" Rachel turns to Percy, raising one eyebrow in the process.

"Come on, Rachel, that ended, like, four years ago."

"Really?" Rachel says, giving Silena a smirk. "What about now? You haven't dated since we were together, and that was five years ago."

"Oh, shut up Rachel. You know I'm too busy to be in a relationship," Percy responds.

"Aw, no, Precy you can't be too busy to be in a relationship," Silena says.

"Oh yes I can. I barely have enough time to finish my homework, how am I supposed to have enough time to spend time with someone and make her happy? Especially if she's anything like Rachel, that'll just be a nightmare dealing with someone that needy again."

"Hey! That's not true," Rachel says as everyone listening giggles. By that time rehearsal is about to begin, so everyone finishes stretching and heads to the barres where they warm up.

Rehearsal went by fairly quickly, and by the end of it everyone's legs were shaking and feet were burning. Percy quickly takes off his ballet shoes, puts on shorts over his tights, and slides on a pair of vans. He's so hungry that he wants to leave as soon as possible, so he waves goodbye to everyone and heads outside, looking for his mom's car. When he finds it, he heads towards it and gets in.

"Hey sweetie, how was rehearsal?" his mom asks as soon as he sits down.

"It was great, but I'm exhausted now. What's for dinner?" Percy says, buckling his seat belt.  
"Paul's making some macaroni and cheese right now."

"Yum."

The rest of the car ride was silent, and as soon as Sally parks the car, Percy rushes out and heads to their apartment. Opening the door, he is greeted with the holy scent of mac and cheese.

"Oh, great you're here! I just finished making it," Paul says when he sees Percy coming into the kitchen. He hands Percy a serving and brings two more to the dining table. Sally joins them and the three start eating, small conversations coming and going as they eat. When they're done, Percy quickly cleans up and heads to his room to do his homework. By the time he's done, which is pretty late at night, he can't help but dread the idea of waking up and having to do it all over again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Why why why?**

Annabeth sits alone in her car, everyone else having piled into Jason's or Beck's or Travis's car. She doesn't mind though, being able to let her mind wander for the first time that day. Her fingers lightly tap the steering wheel as her thoughts finally come across the ballet lesson she is heading to. She smirks when the image of the boys dressed in tights and trying to do plies fills her head, but it quickly disappears as the thought of her in a leotard and having to do that stuff fills her head.

"FUCK. Fuck fuck fuck," Annabeth says to herself. "What the fuck is going on."

Suddenly memories flood back and Annabeth is six years old again, standing at the barre, her leg always the lowest of the class. Annabeth is seven years old, falling on her butt after only spinning 90 degrees. She's crying in her room, alone after a rehearsal, because she's just so bad, but she can't be bad, she can't she can't she can't. She's walking up to her dad, asking if she can stop doing ballet, saying that it's just not for her, that she would like to start running track instead, anything instead. Fuck.

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Percy can barely contain his excitement. He had a small glimpse of his students, and just the thought of little humans in their little tights and little leotards and little shoes has him bouncing on his heels. It's his first time ever teaching a class on his own, and also his first time teaching kids so young.

He goes over the lesson plans one more time in his head. Okay. Greet parents and students. Introduce yourself. Welcome everyone. Have kids introduce themselves. Talk about the class a bit. Go over positions one to three. Get kids on the bar. Do pliés at the barre. Do some basic exercises. Have free dancing for the kids for the last five minutes. Talk to parents. Say goodbye. Done.

Percy takes a deep breath, opens the door, and the lesson begins.

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Oh god Annabeth cannot believe she's doing this. She's standing in a black leotard in the middle of a dance studio while the team is introducing themselves to their teacher, a fairly young woman who asked them to call her Ms. Mellie. She seems nice, but Annabeth can't focus on anything other than the pure mortification she feels from the idea of having to do ballet in front of people she knows and that she can't have anyone else see her like this. Her hands can't stop sweating.

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"And now it's time to curtsy, girls, and bow, boys, and say thank you very much, and I'll see you next week," Percy tells his class as he bows to demonstrate and they follow his lead. "Thank you to all the parents who stayed to watch today's lesson," Percy says, turning to the parents. "I cannot wait to see your children again next week, they all did absolutely amazing," Percy addresses the parents sitting along the side of the room. "Just a reminder, you won't be able to sit in here to watch next week's lesson, but you will be able to watch from outside. Also, there will be a Cinderella performance in a few weeks, and all the students can come in for free and meet a few of the dancers. More information is available at the front desk downstairs, so please feel free to go and ask."

Percy holds the door open and says final goodbyes as everyone leaves the studio, children with big smiles on their faces and parents with proud looks in their eyes.

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Annabeth checks the clock. Ten minutes left. She lets out a sigh of relief. The team is at the barre doing some basic movements, and Annabeth is just so relieved to not be the worst. She doesn't want to be rude, but Leo, who isn't even on the team but Hedge still forced him to do ballet with everyone, and Malcom can't seem to point their toes and Beckendorf is pretty awkward with his movements. Annabeth, although not graceful in her movements, is not getting a lot of feedback from Ms. Mellie, and she just hopes she can keep this up for the rest of the rehearsals. Even though quite a few members of the team are struggling, everyone working hard and focused, fueled by the motive to not have them filmed and posted on the school's football page if they don't work hard and do well. But while everyone is closely watching Ms. Mellie or focusing on their movements, no one seems to notice Coach Hedge in the corner, quietly exchanging shy glances with Ms. Mellie.

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Percy heads to Ms. Mellie's studio with his bag on his shoulder. He knows she has a lesson at 5:45, so she's probably already there, getting ready for her class. Walking to the studio, Percy can barely contain the smile on his face and the bounce in his step. He's just so happy about the way his first lesson went, he can't wait to update Ms. Mellie on everything that just happened.

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They are still all at the barre, finishing up the lesson. Annabeth stands in the back, angled slightly in the opposite direction as everyone else so she can easily glance at the clock. She watches the clock slowly tick. Only five minutes left.

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Percy isn't paying attention. He doesn't notice twenty-ish people standing in the studio. All he sees is Ms. Mellie's back through the small window on the door. He's not thinking.

He opens the door and when it's barely opened, he notices that the studio is filled with a bunch of guys and one girl. They look familiar to Percy, and that's when he realizes. This is the football team. His school's football team. People who don't know he does ballet. People who can get the whole school knowing that he does ballet. Fuck.

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Annabeth hears the door open and her head spins to it's direction. Her eyes lock with a familiar pair of sea green ones, but just as quickly as they appear, they are gone. When she turns back around, no one else seems disturbed by the noise, unaware that someone just barged into the lesson.

Annabeth drags herself through the last few minutes of the lesson, mind numb with the fact that someone saw her, and someone will bring it up, and if anyone finds out that she is taking ballet classes but sucks at it, it's over for her. As Ms. Mellie wraps up the lesson, Annabeth's mind finally comes across who those eyes belong to. Percy Jackson. Fuck.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Bump and Run (or Walk)**

"So, how was practice yesterday?" Thalia asks Annabeth, wiggling her eyebrows in the process.

Annabeth freezes. "How'd you find out about that? No one except the team is supposed to know," Annabeth says. And Percy, she thinks.

"Please, Jason was complaining about it all night. And then he was complaining about how his feet are sore this morning," Thalia says with a smirk on her face.

"Ugh, I can't believe it. I didn't think it was possible to be any more embarrassed, but here I am, you figured out my one secret," Annabeth says, draping an arm over her eyes. "Whatever will I do," Annabeth rolls her eyes as she finishes.

"Wow, if you're gonna be like that, fine, guess we're not friends anymore," Thalia turns to leave where they're standing.

"Come on I was just joking. Fine, it was okay, I guess. A lot like ten years ago but we don't have to get into that."  
Thalia gives Annabeth a warm smile. "I'm sure you're great. And if you ever need some help, I know some people who have no idea who you are who'd be happy to help."

"Thanks, Thales." Annabeth tries to return Thalia's smile, but only manages to form a thin line with her lips. She hopes that Thalia doesn't notice.

"Oh, yeah I wanted to ask you. I know you were planning on going to the party tomorrow, but a few of us were thinking about driving down to the city for the night. I think it was like me, Nico, Reyna, Grover. Oh, and James, I don't think you know him but I think you guys would get along really well."  
James? Another guy? Why does she keep doing this? "Uhh, I would love to go, but I just don't think I'll be able to. I'm not sure my dad will let me go down to New York without an adult driving."

"Just tell him I'm going," Thalia says, pointing to herself in the process. "Literally like two more weeks and I'm all the adult supervision you'll need."

"Ha, yeah I'm pretty sure that'll make him less likely to let me go. Anyway, I'm not sure yet, I'll let you know tomorrow," Annabeth says as the bell rings, signaling that first period is about to start.

The two head up the stairs to first period chemistry, not able to speak due to the heavy flow of students. Once they finally reach the classroom, they take their seats on the far side of the room.

"Hey, Thalia," Travis says from the row over.

"Hey, dickhead," Thalia says, pulling out her phone from her jean's back pocket and immediately going to her streaks on Snapchat.

"Aw, come on, don't be like that," Travis says, but gets cut off by Thalia giving him the middle finger. "Annabeth?"  
"Sorry, Travis, this is all you," Annabeth says with a chuckle, getting out her pencil case and folder from her backpack.

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"Thanks again, I really appreciate you helping me out, Annabeth," Frank says as he gets out his math folder from his backpack. "Pre-Calc is just, ugh."

"Oh trust me, I know," Annabeth says as she gets out a pencil. "It's so much for no reason. Okay, so what did you say you have trouble with again?"

"I don't get this trig stuff at all," Frank says, pointing to a few problems on a worksheet.

"Well, do you know the unit circle?" Frank shakes his head. "Okay, let me draw it out for you real quick."

As Annabeth starts writing on a piece of paper, someone behind her starts speaking. "Hey Frank, whatcha doing?"  
"Oh, hey Percy. Annabeth's just explaining last night's homework," Frank says. "You wanna join? You won't mind, right Annabeth?"  
Before Annabeth can respond, Percy says, "Oh, I can't, I gotta go see my psych teacher. Thanks for the offer, though." Annabeth hears nothing from behind her after that, so she assumes Percy left.

"Okay, so here's the unit circle, but if you don't want to memorize that, there are two special right triangles that'll give you the same values…"

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It's the end of the day and Annabeth is heading to the locker room to change for practice. She quickly gets changed and heads to one of the school's side exits where the team always meets before practice. There, most of the guys are stretching and talking to each other, completely at ease. Annabeth joins Beck, Sherman, and Travis, who are sitting closest to the door, and starts to stretch.

"Bruh, you can't fuck her friend," Travis says to Sherman.

"Come on, we hooked up once, and if she never told her friend that's her fault," Sherman responds.

"Hey, Annabeth, how are you?" Beck says, completely ignoring the conversation going on.

"Oh, I'm alright. How are you? How's your project going?"

Annabeth and Beckendorf continue chatting for a few more minutes, completely ignoring the semi-illegal things Travis and Sherman are talking about, until Coach Hedge comes out and starts practice.

But all throughout practice, Annabeth is distracted. All because those sea green eyes won't leave her alone. When Hedge switches her out of the play, Annabeth doesn't analyze the teams movements like she usually does. Instead, she's thinking about what she can do to get that image out of her head.

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A few hours after practice, Annabeth heads to the library to meet up with Will, the new transfer student. Annabeth and Will went to summer camp together when Annabeth still lived in California, so Will knew a friendly face in his new school.

As Annabeth walks to the meeting location, she passes a few alcoves with comfy chairs and small tables. In one of those alcoves, she spots a head of messy jet black hair. Percy Jackson. She decides that now is her chance.

Percy notices an approaching figure and looks up. "Jackson," Annabeth says as shock fills his eyes. "We need to talk."

"Uhhh," Percy replies, not meeting Annabeth's eyes.

This can't be happening, Annabeth thinks to herself. "Look, this little game that's going on here? Well, it needs to stop."

Finally he looks up, and Annabeth notices that an eyelash has fallen onto his cheek. "What are you even talking about?" Percy says, with feigned indifference etched into his tone.

"Oh, come on, how dense can you be?" Percy doesn't respond. "No one talks, nothing will happen," Annabeth says after a sigh.

"I wasn't gonna say anything," Percy says, looking away from Annabeth and turning to his homework.

"Oh, yeah right." Annabeth says, crossing her arms.

Percy finally puts his homework on the table and meets Annabeth's eyes. "Yeah, unlike some people, I actually put some faith into others."

"Look, I don't care." Annabeth says angrily. "Just know that if I hear wind of any of this, 'Twinkle Toes' will be the least of your worries."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Percy says and Annabeth turns around to head to Will.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Deal**

Percy, well, Percy is kinda angry. He had thought she was nice, in that vague way where you don't know the person well enough to say otherwise. But the way she talked to him? He had never heard her speak more condescendingly before. Anyone, for a matter of fact. It was like she thought he was flat out stupid. And for what reason? They never even held a conversation for more than a few minutes before. She doesn't even know him. Of him, sure. But the guy who withstood bullying to stand up for friends? Nope. Just who does she think she is?

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A few days later during lunch, Percy is about to walk into the classroom Frank's in when he sees Annabeth sitting with Frank, both of them hunched over some pieces of paper. Oh no, Percy thinks to himself, not wanting to have another conversation with Annabeth. He hasn't seen her in the hallways, and he wants to keep it that way. As Percy turns around to make laps around the school until Annabeth leaves, he hears patience and care in Annabeth's voice as she goes over the problem. "You were on the right track with these questions, just remember that the sign depends on the quadrant the point is in…"

! #$%^&*&^%$# #^%$# $%^&*(*&^%$# #^&*&^ #$%^&%$# #$%^A#$%^# #$

It's Tuesday night, and Thalia's dragged him to a football game. Percy doesn't know why he agreed, he still has a bunch of homework he has to do, but Thalia insisted, and he didn't want to be turned into pulp. Although Percy tries to ignore her, it's easy for him to spot Annabeth, and he can't help but notice the way she cheers when Beckendorf evades being tackled for 40 yards, or when Jason and Michael run a perfect play, or the way she looks when she scores a touchdown.

At the end of half-time, Percy watches Annabeth as she talks to her teammates in the huddle. He sees the focus on her face and determination in her eyes, and how her teammates are drawn to every word she says. Suddenly, Annabeth's face breaks into one of the biggest smiles Percy has ever seen, and she goes around the inside of the huddle high-fiving and clapping all of her teammates on the back. When she gets back to the outside of the huddle, it comes alive, each person swaying and jumping to the team's chant. Percy feels a smile growing on his face, despite not knowing the reason.

! #$%^&*&^%$# #^%$# $%^&*(*(They won btw)*&^ #$%^&%$# #$%^A#$%^# #$

At the studio, Percy is walking back from the water fountain on his five minute break when he passes an empty classroom with the lights on. Intending to turn them off, he sticks his head through the open door, when movement in the corner of the room catches his eye. Startled, Percy backs out, peering through the outside window in time to see curly blond hair flash across the room. No, it couldn't be. Why the hell would Annabeth be here?

His curiosity piqued, he looks back through the window to see Annabeth doing some truly pitiful soutenu turns across the floor. He can't help the laugh that bursts from his mouth and quickly ducks when she shoots a look at the window. Quieting his internal panic, he sneaks back to class, his mind caught on what he just saw. Clearly she was practicing, and if the sweat on her face was any indication, she had been for a while. But why would she go out of her way to work on something she obviously didn't want to do? When class ends and Percy goes back to check the classroom, Annabeth is gone.

! #$%^&*&^%$# #^%$# $%^&*(*&^%$# #^&*&^ #$%^&%$# #$%^A#$%^# #$

Percy hangs back after rehearsal to talk to Ms. Mellie about the routine for his younger students. As he leaves, he passes the same studio he saw Annabeth in last Thursday and sees that the lights are on, even though the studio looks empty. Curious on whether Annabeth is there again, he peeks in through the window to find her alone in the studio. He watches as she attempts a pirouette twice, falls, and stays on the floor with her head in her hands. Finally, she gets up and tries again, and immediately falls. Percy, unable to see someone struggle so much, especially after seeing how hard she has worked, finally bursts through the door, shocking Annabeth in the process.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asks as she gets up and tries to put an angry look on her face.  
"Look, I'm sorry but I cannot physically see someone struggle so much," Percy says, putting his bag down.

Annabeth crosses her arms. "I don't need your help."

"Sure, says that giant bruise on your ass that's abouta form," Percy says as he walks toward Annabeth  
Annabeth scowls and looks down. "Were you watching me?" Annabeth asks.

"I saw someone fall as I walked by, and I wanted to help," Percy says, ignoring the fact that he saw her last week as well. "Now stand up straight, neck long, lift your chin, arms like this, no, relax your hands…."

The next fifteen minutes go by like this, Percy ignoring Annabeth's original protests and critiquing Annabeth on how to fix her form and demonstrating how to properly do movements, which Annabeth surprisingly tries her best to follow. After a few more minutes, Annabeth steps back from Percy. "Thanks for the help," Annabeth says quietly. "You really didn't have to do this." Annabeth looks down and Percy gives her a small smile.

"Don't worry about it. And look, you didn't have to be here, but here we both are." Annabeth looks up as Percy says this. "And I saw how hard you were working. But ballet's one of those things that you need the right form or else the amount you practice just won't matter," Percy says, letting out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I got that much already," Annabeth says with a small eye roll. "Please don't tell anyone about this," she says, her voice suddenly small.  
"Are we really gonna have this conversation again?" Percy asks, slightly disappointed with the idea that after spending twenty minutes helping her, Annabeth is still going to yell at him.

Annabeth looks up at the ceiling. "I-I guess you should know, well you probably do, but ballet is the one thing I'm awful at." Annabeth looks at Percy, eyes watering the slightest amount. "No matter how hard I try, well you saw what I'm like. I literally have trauma from it from when I was younger," Annabeth says, letting out a small huff of laughter that stops the watering of her eyes. "And everyone on the team expects me to be the best since I'm the girl, but I suck. And if the school found out, they'd expect the same thing. So, I'm sorry about how I snapped at you. It's just that, I-" Annabeth stops, unable to finish her sentence, and looks down.

"Hey, I get it," Percy says, reaching down to touch her arm, ignoring the shivers that run down his spine from the contact. "Ballet is not easy, it's really not even though everyone thinks it is, and it's not for everyone, especially if you haven't been doing it since you were three. Look, I'll make a deal with you. I can help you with ballet, like today, if you can tutor me in world just, like, during lunch."

Annabeth thinks for a moment, before she looks up and answers. "Well, Percy, you have yourself a deal."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: I Would be Dancing with the Devil but the Devil Never Showed Up**

Annabeth is heading to room 246, Mr. Chiron's classroom. Mr. Chiron is Annabeth's favorite teacher, but sadly the only class he teaches is European history, so Annabeth no longer gets to see him that often.

"Hello, Annabeth, dear," Mr. Chiron says as Annabeth walks into the classroom.

"Hi, Mr. Chiron." Annabeth responds, and heads to the corner where Percy is sitting, pulling out a few papers from his backpack. "So, what do you need help with?" Annabeth asks, sitting down across from him.

"Okay, so we got this test back, and I was wondering if you could go over the answers," Percy says, showing Annabeth a test booklet and a scantron. Annabeth looks down at the scantron and sees a 54% printed. She takes a deep breath, opens the booklet to the first problem, and gets ready for a long lunch period.

! #$%^&*&^%$# #^%$# $%^&*(*&^%$# #^&*&^ #$%^&%$# #$%^A#$%^# #$

It's the weekend before Halloween, and Annabeth is sitting in her car, dressed as an angel wearing a white mini dress with feathers on the bottom and the straps, waiting outside of Thalia's house. Thalia finally steps out of her house, and Annabeth sees that she's dressed in her normal clothes with just a prosthetic wound and some fake blood on her cheek.

"Are you serious right now?" Annabeth says as Thalia gets into the car. "You really gave me this entire costume to wear and that's all you got? Where's your costume? What the fuck?"

"Sorry, I lost my horns so I couldn't wear that. This is the best I could come up with, in like, five minutes," Thalia says in what seems an apologetic tone, but Annabeth knows she's lying. "At least you still look banging."  
"Ugh, I hate you," Annabeth says as she pulls out of the driveway, but Thalia just rolls her eyes.

They continue chatting during the car ride, and Annabeth finally turns onto the street the party is on. She finds a parking spot a few houses down and the two step out of the car and Thalia turns to Annabeth. "Hey, where are your wings and halo?"

"In the trunk."

Thalia moves to the trunk after Annabeth opens them. "Ooo, come on put these on." Annabeth steps towards Thalia and turns around as she picks up the wings, and Thalia helps attach them to her back. "Damn look at you. You're so bad."

Annabeth just rolls her eyes. "Come on, let's head inside, I'm cold." They walk to the house, music thumping through the walls.

As soon as the two step into the house, Thalia looks to her right and says, "Oh, look, I gotta go, see you in a bit," and she walks away.

"Ugh, fake," Annabeth says to herself and walks further into the house, ignoring the stares she's getting from the cleavage she's showing and her wings getting in people's ways. She passes Connor and Travis, who look like they're spiking a JV football player's cup, but she just shakes her head and keeps walking, already used to the "initiation" the two like to put the underclassmen who are being bumped up to varsity. She finally makes it to the kitchen, where she finds Beck, beard grown out, wearing a flannel, and dressed as a werewolf, and Silena, blood dripping from the teeth poking out of her mouth, wearing a tight black dress, and dressed as a vampire, sitting at the counter.

"OMG Annabeth! You look so good!" Silena practically screams as Annabeth steps into the room, jumping up to give Annabeth a hug. "Oh my god your makeup looks so good! And your outfit! Who are you trynna impress?" Silena ask, raising her eyebrows.

Annabeth chuckles. "Oh, no one Silena. Thalia and I were supposed to go as angel and devil but she 'lost her horns' so it's just me." Silena sits back down as Annabeth walks to the fridge and pulls out a coke, pouring it into a cup with a few shots of vodka. "But thanks. You look great too, Silena. Love your guys's costumes," Annabeth says, knowing that Silena was the one who chose the costumes.

"Aw, thanks. You have no idea how long it took to convince him to wear this. All he wanted to go as was a handyman. That's like, so boring," Silena says, putting a hand on Beck's arm. "You know how it is with him."

"If I may point out," Beck says as he puts down his drink. "A handyman is a great costume."

"Oh Beck," Silena says, reaching up to cup his face in her hand. "Anyways, it was great seeing you Annabeth, but you should go out there. I heard someone is looking for you," Silena says with a wink.

"Really? Who? I just got here," Annabeth says, but Silena just responds with a shrug. "Well, okay. See you later, then, Silena. See you tomorrow, Beck." They say their goodbyes and Annabeth leaves, looking for the person who was looking for her, with only two thoughts of who this person could be.

She heads to where she thought Thalia is, hoping that's who is looking for her, but can't find Thalia anywhere. Finally she gives up and heads to the bathroom upstairs, trying to get a breather. As she reaches the landing, she spots a room with the door open and a bunch of guys hanging inside. Thinking that she probably knows at least one of them, Annabeth steps inside.

When she steps into the room, all eyes land on her. "Ahh, Annabeth, there you are," Sean says and walks up to her, putting his arm around her waist. "You look great," he whispers into her ear.

Annabeth just gives him a sly smile and downs the rest of her cup. "Come on, let's go," she says, and pulls him out of the room. She pulls him into the bathroom, and as soon as the door closes, Sean catches her lips in his. Annabeth tangles her fingers into his hair, and Sean wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer. He starts to trail kisses from her mouth down her jaw to her neck, and pushes away her dress strap to start biting at her collarbone. Before he can move any farther, Annabeth's phone vibrates from multiple texts. Sean finally pulls away, looking exasperated, and gives her a pointed look towards her boots, where her phone is. Annabeth sighs and reaches to get her phone, and sees twenty texts from Thalia, all saying that she's ready to leave and asking where Annabeth is and threatening to steal Annabeth's car if she doesn't come down right now.

Annabeth gives Sean an apologetic smile and says, "Sorry, I have to go."

Sean just looks annoyed and says, "Okay, bye, but don't come back for a second chance."

Annabeth just gives him a shrug and walks out of the bathroom and down the stairs, heading to her car where she sees Thalia waiting for her. Annabeth unlocks the car and takes off her wings and halo. When she gets in and starts the car, Thalia turns to her and says, "You will not believe what the fuck just happeded."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: I Guess You're Not That Bad After All**

Percy and Annabeth have been meeting up for the past few weeks, Percy helping Annabeth with ballet on Tuesdays and Annabeth tutoring Percy on Wednesdays. And honestly, Percy is so glad he made this proposal, because not only does he get help on his worst subject, but he also sees Annabeth's improvement, which is so drastic, and he loves seeing people get better at ballet, which is one of the reasons he loves teaching his class so much. It's only been three weeks since Percy barged in on her practicing, and Annabeth is already able to do a complete pirouette without falling and her form has gotten so much better, but most importantly, she is gaining confidence in her abilities, and Percy can clearly see that. He sees her smile brighten every time she learns a new move she couldn't do the week before, he sees her stand up straighter every time they go through the routine she's learning, and he sees her more relaxed at the end of their sessions, proud of the improvements she's been making. And Percy is proud of her too. Not only did she have the courage to accept his help, which, from what he knew of her through their friends before and what he determined through their first two meetings, was not easy for her, but she is also putting so much effort into something that ultimately doesn't matter, just because she doesn't want to be bad at it.

They are currently stretching at the end of their last session, since Annabeth insisted on learning how to do the splits, even though she was a foot off the ground the first time she tried it. Even now Annabeth has improved so much, and Percy can tell that she has been stretching every day. They are chatting about what they did over the weekend when Percy's phone buzzes with a text from Grover.

**G-Man: Hey uh something wild just happened Juniper just invited me to a party she's throwing this week did you know about this? **

**Percy: oh ye **

**Percy: i forgot about that sorry bud **

**Percy: are you going?**

**G-Man: Should I? I don't know what if i make a fool of myself and mess everything up then she's gonna hate me and never talk to me ever again and I'll die alone **

**Percy: im sure itll be fine **

**Percy: if it makes u feel any better ill be there**

**Percy: and it wont be that big like no more than 20 people i think**

**G-Man: Great so everyone will know if I embarrass myself**

**Percy: no i meant that u wont get anxiety from the crowd**

**Percy: dude chill i can bring you some of my moms macha**

**Percy: i know it calms u down**

**G-Man: AHhh you're the best Perce**

**Percy: i know**

Percy looks up from his phone so see Annabeth packing up. "Sorry about that," he says.

"No worries, I should be heading out anyways," Annabeth says, switching out her ballet shoes for slides. Percy starts to pack up as well when Annabeth says, "Do you want a ride? You always wait after I leave and I feel kinda bad."

"Well, okay, sure. Thanks," Percy says and pulls out his phone to tell his mom he won't need a ride home.

They finish packing up and Percy follows Annabeth as she heads to her car. It's a dark grey 2010 Honda Accord, and as Percy sits in the passenger seat, he notices how clean the car is and the faint scent of pine air freshener lingering in the air. Percy tells Annabeth where he lives and a peaceful silence fills the car, disturbed only by the sound of Percy tapping his fingers on the door.

"Do you not listen to any music?" Percy asks, breaking the silence after a few minutes.

Annabeth smoothly changes lanes and says, "Well, I don't know what type of music you like, and I know some people get annoyed at listening to stuff they don't like."

"Oh," Percy says and stops tapping his fingers, taken aback by the thoughtfulness of Annabeth's actions. "I'm just not used to complete silence,"

The car pulls up to a stop at a red light, allowing Annabeth to pick up her phone and open Spotify. "So what music do you like?"

"Oh, I don't really care, all music, I guess."

Annabeth clicks on an early 2000s playlist, letting "Bye, Bye, Bye" fill the car. "This better?" Annabeth asks, putting down her phone as the light turns green.

For the rest of the car ride, Percy and Annabeth don't talk, but Percy can hear Annabeth's soft humming to some of the songs. Annabeth finally parks in front of Percy's apartment building and Percy starts grabbing his bag before he remembers something. "Oh, yeah, Juniper is throwing a small party on Friday after the game. Uh," Percy pauses, suddenly nervous. "I just wanted to invite you."

"Juniper?" Annabeth says, deep in thought.

"Yeah, you know who she is, right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, she's always so sweet whenever we talk. But I just didn't want to intrude. I think I heard her talking about it, and it's like a lot of dancers, right?"

"Yeah, but Grover will be there and I think Thalia's gonna be there and probably Beckendorf if Silena forces him to and a few others." Percy notices Annabeth's hesitation and adds, "But no worries if you don't want to, you don't have to decide right now anyways, no one will mind if you show up last minute."

Annabeth waits for a few more seconds before she responds, "Oh, I was just thinking if I'm busy on Friday. Turns out I'm not, so I'll come."

"Okay, cool, here let me send you the address…"

! #$%^&*&^%$# #%P^%$# $%^&*(*&^%$# #^&*&^ #$%^&%$# #$%^A#$%^# #$

It's Friday right before the game and Percy is making his way through the bleachers, smuggling his mom's macha under his big jacket. He spots Grover and heads to him.

"Here, I brought it," Percy says, unzipping his jacket and pulling out the travel mug filled with macha.

Grover grabs it and takes a sip. "Thanks, man, you have no idea how rough it was. Thalia thought it would be funny to nearly knock me into Juniper, like I almost fell on top of her, and Thalia was just standing there laughing."

Percy tries to suppress a laugh, but a small smile still peaks through. "Damn, sorry you had to go through that, G-Man."

They continue talking, Grover shooting nervous glances towards Juniper's direction, and only Percy noticing Juniper's glances at Grover. Soon, the crowd sees the team running from the school, crowding around a painted banner showing a black hound fighting a bull dog, the mascot of the school they're playing. The crowd starts chanting "HELL HOUNDS" and soon the team runs through the banner, starting their warm-up. Percy can quickly spot Annabeth, who is at the front leading the team. Soon, both teams huddle up and the captains go to shake hands and talk to the refs. Annabeth, Beckendorf, Jason, and Frank head back to their team, and the game begins quickly. The game flies by, with the Hounds scoring touchdown after touchdown, Annabeth alone scoring three. By the time half time comes around, both Percy and Grover's voices have gone hoarse with the amount of screaming and cheering they've done.

"Hey, do you want anything? I'm gonna get some water," Percy says to Grover as he steps down from the bench.

"Nah, I'm good," Grover replies and Percy heads down the bleachers to the concession stand and groans when he sees how long the line is. Still he waits, and half time is almost over by the time he makes it to the front of the line. He gets his water and heads back, where he spots Annabeth stretching and warming up on the track.

"Hey, Annabeth," Percy yells. Annabeth turns around and sees him and gives him a small smile. "You're playing amazing," he says genuinely, and the smile on her face widens. Then, her coach calls out and she gives him one final wave before running to the huddle with her team. Percy heads back to Grover, and sees that Silena managed to drag Juniper to him. When she sees him, Silena calls Percy to where Nico is standing, and the three of the watch and cheer and talk as the rest of the game goes on.

The game has… a few hitches in it. Annabeth isn't put in at the start of the third quarter, and so isn't Beckendorf and Frank. The other team quickly scores two more touchdowns, now only a few points behind the Hounds. Luckily, the three of them are put back in towards the end of the quarter, and Beckendorf makes a quick touchdown before the quarter ends. Then Annabeth, and Percy can hardly believe his eyes when he sees this, manages to jump up almost two feet off the ground to intercept a pass and makes it thirty yards to score a touchdown, narrowly avoiding being tackled twice. After that, the Hounds stay in the lead and the entire crowd is crazy, everyone jumping up and down and chanting as loud as they can.

Percy waits for Grover, who, despite his bad left knee and three failed driving test attempts, is going to drive him to Jupier's party. The two pile into Grover's car, and head to Juniper's house. By the time they made it, most of the people are already there and the party, well more of a small gathering, is already in full swing.

"So, how did you manage with Juniper?" Percy finally asks as Grover takes a nervous glance around the living room.

"It went okay, I think," Grover says.

Percy spots Juniper and a smirk covers his face. "Well, I don't want to keep you from it," Percy says and lightly pushes Grover to Juniper, who is standing by the refreshments table.

Percy walks around for a few more minutes talking to whoever wants to talk with him, casually glancing at Grover and Juniper every once in a while. He sees Grover slowly get more relaxed and the blush on Juniper's cheeks get lighter and lighter. Soon, Silena and Beckendorf walk in, Silena saying hi to everyone she sees and Beckendorf just following her around. Then Piper walks in holding hands with Jason, and Percy can see quite a few raised eyebrows and smirks from the people who were waiting for this to happen. Percy, upon realizing that since Beckendorf and Jason were here, Annabeth should be too, glances at his phone, and sees that it has almost been an hour after the football game ended. He starts to get slightly worried, until the front door opens and Annabeth steps in.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The Devil Cancelled… Again**

Annabeth is fucking pissed. She was supposed to go to Juniper's party with Thalia. Thalia said yes when Annabeth asked her. But literally thirty minutes before the game, Annabeth gets a text from Thalia saying sorry cant make it to the party got a date ;). Now on any other occasion, Annabeth would be elated at the news, Reyna always makes Thalia so happy and Annabeth just wants to see her best friend happy, but the fact that Thalia cancelled so last minute, and probably knew long before that but only decided to tell Annabeth at the last possible minute, and that Thalia cancelled on her costume on Halloween infuriated Annabeth so much. So here Annabeth is, walking through the door of Juniper's house by herself, only coming because she doesn't want to ghost Percy. Annabeth took extra long getting changed just to try to shorten the amount of time she'll have to be here.

As Annabeth closes the door, she hears a familiar voice coming from the living room. "Hey, Annabeth, over here," Percy says, and Annabeth heads towards him.

Annabeth takes a seat on the couch next to Percy. "Sorry I'm late."

"No worries," Percy responds with an easy smile. "Jason and Piper just got here, so you're not that late."

"Oh?" Annabeth asks, raising her eyebrows when she spots Jason with his arm around Piper. "That's new," she says, commenting on Jason and Piper's relationship.

"Yeah, everyone was shocked when they walked in together."  
"Well, good thing he finally worked up the balls to ask her. It was getting annoying. Jason wouldn't shut up about her but wouldn't talk to her either," Annabeth says, rolling her eyes and leaning back into the couch cushions.

"Yeah, Piper too," Percy says, nodding to Will as he walks past them. "Oh, by the way, you played amazing tonight. I didn't think anyone could jump that high."

"Oh, thanks," Annabeth says, barely concealing her blush at the sound of those words. Even though most of her team looks up to her, Annabeth still gets a little shy when someone compliments her. It's weird; she doesn't know how to handle compliments but she hates it when her hard work doesn't get appreciated. "I guess a lot of time on the leg press pays off."

"I don't know, I grew up on the leg press and I've never been able to jump that high." Percy gives Annabeth a lopsided grin and the two break out into laughter. When Annabeth stops laughing, she gets up, telling Percy she needs a drink, and heads to the kitchen. When she gets there, Annabeth sees Silena and Beck talking to Will at the kitchen island.

"Annabeth!" Silena says as soon as she sees Annabeth and pulls Annabeth into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Just checking up on Beck. I heard he was going to a rager and I wanted to make sure he was able to get up in the morning tomorrow," Annabeth says, giving Beckendorf a teasing grin. "But it seems that I have been misinformed. Well, I must be going, then," Annabeth says, and turns around to leave before Silena grabs her arm.

"Annabeth, you're too funny," Silena says after she stops laughing. "Here, I made these drinks. Sadly, there's no alcohol here, but I'm sure one night without it won't do us any harm." Silena slides over a plastic cup filled with some red liquid in it. "Cheers," Silena says, and Annabeth takes a sip, surprised at how good it tastes. "Annabeth, you know Will, right?"  
"Of course," Annabeth says in between sips of her drink.

"Well, have you noticed anything-"

"Silena," Will cuts her off with slightly blushed cheeks.

"Aww, come on, Will," Silena says, but Will just shakes his head.

"Oh my god, Silena, you're bullying the poor boy," Annabeth says, pulling Will close to her. "Let's get out of here, Will. Bye Beck."

Annabeth and Will head out of the kitchen as Silena says, "Oh, stop it you two," but Annabeth just waves behind her and continues walking.

"Thanks, Annabeth," Will says, and they stop walking outside the living room.

"Don't worry about it. I know how Silena can be; she has the best intentions but sometimes she does things the worst possible way. I know whenever you're ready you'll talk about it." Will gives her a grateful smile and the two head separate ways, Annabeth returning to where she left Percy.

When Annabeth steps into the living room, she notices Clarisse standing in front of Percy and Percy sitting with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed. As she gets closer, Clarisse turns to Annabeth and gives her a respectful glance before asking, "Do you know where Silena is?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen," Annabeth says, and Clarisse walks away. As Annabeth sits down next to Percy, she asks, "What was that about?"

"Nothing," Percy says, immediately relaxing as soon as Clarisse walks away.

"Okay," Annabeth says, somewhat sarcastically.

After that, the two continue to talk about random things, from football to people to classes to embarrassing childhood memories. Yeah, Annabeth doesn't know how they got to that topic either. Eventually, the two get to the topic of parties, which Percy mentions that he doesn't go to many.

"Really? You seem like the type who would," Annabeth says after finding this out.

"Uh, is that supposed to be offensive?" Percy says, crossing his arms and giving a mock defensive glare.

"I mean, you kinda look like those skater boys who just walk around high at all the parties," Annabeth says with a shrug.

"You're really digging yourself a hole here."

"I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying you look like you could." Annabeth rolls her eyes at Percy. "You just kinda look like a guy who would have fun at a party is all I'm saying."

"Well, for your information, I do not have fun at parties, so I guess you're wrong."

"I guess they say 'don't judge a book by it's cover' for a reason. But let me guess, you're more of a with-close-friends-slash-family-member drinker?"

Percy looks down, slightly embarrassed. "Well, to be honest, I've never really drinked before."

"Really?" Annabeth asks, shocked. "I know a place where I can get you some if you wanna try."

"Uhh, I'm good," Percy says, scratching the back of his neck.

"Okay, but let me know if you ever change your mind. Trust me, I'm probably one of the best people you could have around the first time you're drunk." The two continue talking, until Annabeth glances at her phone and is shocked by how late it has gotten. They say their goodbyes and Annabeth heads home, already thinking about practice the next morning.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Things are Looking Up**

It's a few weeks after Juniper's party and Percy finds himself paying for a ticket for his second football game this week. After the party, as the weeks went by, Percy went to more and more football games, even the ones on school nights, to cheer Annabeth on. With Annabeth's tutoring, Percy has brought his world and math grades up and doesn't need to spend as much time studying and doing homework. So here Percy is, walking to the bleachers with Grover, this time at a nearby rival school.

Percy sees Hazel, Juniper, Thalia, and Nico standing at the front of the stands and heads over to them. Grover doesn't seem to notice, and Percy squeezes between Thalia and Nico, leaving the only place for Grover to stand is next to Juniper. It's gotten less awkward between Grover and Juniper, and now they're able to hold a normal conversation, but Percy can still tell how nervous Grover gets whenever he's with Juniper.

"Hey, Kelp Head," Thalia says as Percy steps next to her.

"Hey, Pinecone Face," Percy says back. "Hey, Nico." Percy turns to Nico, who gives him a nod in response.

"Are you going to the city with us?" Thalia turns to Percy.

"When are you guys going, again? And who's going?" Percy asks Thalia.

"Next Friday, we're leaving at 6." Thalia looks down at her hands and begins counting off her fingers as she says who is coming. "So far it's me, Grover, Juniper, Reyna, and if Jason comes he'll probably bring Piper, but they'll be separate, Will, and I'm trying to convince Annabeth, but who knows with her."

"Damn, that's a lot of people. Who's driving?"

"Well Jason and Piper would go in Jason's car, and Reyna's got a minivan that can fit seven if you and Annabeth come, but Annabeth would probably want to drive herself," Thalia finishes with a shrug.

"I'll have to ask my mom," Percy says as the Hounds run to the field, causing the guest bleachers to start chanting. Percy sees Annabeth run on, leading the team in their warm-ups. Eventually, the game starts, and the rival school gets the ball. It's a close game, both schools evenly matched, and it isn't until the fourth quarter that the Hounds clearly pull ahead. It is with a play between Beckendorf and Annabeth, where Annabeth feigns her defensive player and manages to catch the ball from Beckendorf right on the end zone. The crowd goes wild, marking this as the nineteenth consecutive win the Hounds have, one of the longest streaks in school history and the end of an almost perfect football season. The crowd goes wild, marking this as the nineteenth consecutive win the Hounds have, one of the longest streaks in school history and the end of an almost perfect football season.

Percy turns to Grover to head home, only to see Grover leaving with Juniper. Not wanting to ruin Grover's chance, Percy turns back to Thalia, only to see her talking to Zoë and Phoebe, people who Percy doesn't have a problem with but don't seem to like Percy. Percy, not knowing who else to ask and not wanting to walk 40 minutes in the dark to get home, waits behind for Annabeth.

Twenty minutes later, Percy sees the football team walking out of the school, heading toward two buses parked by the entrance. He gets nervous for a second, mad that he didn't notice the buses before, until he spots Annabeth wave to her teammates and head toward her car. Seeing her, Percy jogs over to Annabeth.

"Hey, great playing today," Percy says, putting his hands into his jean pockets.

"Oh, thanks Percy," Annabeth says, giving him a small smile and digging around her bag for her keys. "Do you need a ride?" she asks.

"How'd you know?" Percy says with a chuckle.

"Well, you never stay around to say hi." Annabeth pulls out her keys and unlocks her car, throwing her football bag into the back seat and climbing in the front. Percy gets into the passenger seat, and soon Annabeth is driving down empty roads.

"Thanks for the ride, by the way," Percy says as he pulls at his hoodie's strings.

"No problem." Annabeth fiddles with the car volume. "You know, you really need to get your license," Annabeth says with a small laugh.

"Ugh, don't tell me about it. I already have my test scheduled for tomorrow."  
"Ooo, so now you get to drive me around everywhere?"

"Come on, you've only given me a ride, like, four times."

"I'm just joking," Annabeth says with a laugh as she pulls up to a red light. "Anyways, I'm sure you'll do great, the test isn't that hard, anyways."

"Gee, thanks," Percy says, and the car falls into a peaceful silence. As Annabeth turns onto Percy's street, he remembers something he wanted to ask her. "Hey, are you going to the city with Thalia?"

"Uh, I'm not sure yet. Are you?"

"I don't know. I've never been with them before."

"It's not that fun. I mean, it could be, well, I guess you should go at least once. For the 'experience,' I guess," Annabeth says as she pulls in front of Percy's apartment building.

"Wow, great job convincing me that I should go."

"I'm not trying to convince you," Annabeth says as she crosses her arms. "Go if you want to, it can be fun if you let it is all I'm saying."

"Then why aren't coming?" Percy asks with a smirk.

"Did Thalia make you do this?" Annabeth turns to face Percy.

Percy's smirk falters at the glare Annabeth is giving him. "No. You just work so hard, I want to make sure you have your fun too," Percy says with a mock concern tone.

Annabeth just rolls her eyes. "Get out, Percy. I'll see you later."

"Okay, see you Friday at 6, then," Percy says as he gets out, closing the door before Annabeth can respond.


End file.
